Press release

Poland wins historical gold at the 2012 World League

Poland triumph with the gold medals

Sofia, Bulgaria, July 8, 2012 - Poland reached a historical first World League gold disappointing the US team by 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-20) in the 2012 Final. Only the second set was giving any hope for the Americans. The other sets were pretty straight-forward for Andrea Anastasi's boys. Zbigniew Bartman scored 16 and Bartosz Kurek added 12 to help the Red-and-White triumph.

The big final started well for Poland. They were leading the score and the first technical time-out came at 8-6. After that the game was tied and USA was trying to catch up, but whenever they did, Poland kept on moving further on. The great support Poland was getting from the stands kept being a great inspiration and the gap was getting wider and wider. Michal Ruciak scored 2 aces at the end of the set and it was an easy win for Poland by 25-17.

The second set began with a point for the American team. This time the first technical time-out came at 8-7 USA’s way. After that both teams were showing nice actions and the game tied up again with the American team leading 16-14 at the second technical time-out. With Zbigniew Bartman behind the serving line Poland managed to equalize at 20-20. So at the end of the set everything was still up in the air until 24-24. Poland took the following two rallies and came one step closer to the gold by winning the set by 26-24.

At the beginning of the third set USA took the lead but the Polish team, inspired by their fans, did not give up. The first technical time-out came at 8-7 in favor of Andrea Anastasi’s team. The difference in the points was getting bigger and, at the second technical time-out (16-10), the Polish team was already reaching for the gold. It was more and more obvious that the match was going to a happy ending for Poland. They successfully closed the set at 25:20 and rejoiced with the victory.